Kinan Azmeh

Hailed as “intensely soulful (The New York Times)” and “spellbinding (The New Yorker),” Syrian-born, Brooklyn-based composer/clarinetist Kinan Azmeh has announced the February 28th release of his 14th album Live in Berlin (Dreyer Gaido), for which he reconvened his New York-based genre-bending CityBand quartet featuring guitarist Kyle Sanna, bassist Josh Myers, and drummer John Hadfield. Influenced by the music of Azmeh’s homeland of Syria, Live in Berlin captures the arc of personal and collective anger, frustration, sadness and hope felt in the face of atrocities. Conceived during the 2011 Syrian uprising, the album presents six of Azmeh’s own deeply personal compositions (in addition to a piece by Kyle Sanna) recorded in front of a live audience 10 years later on the Pierre Boulez Saal stage in Berlin.